Rent dispute spurs a quest to change court system

VINELAND — First District Assemblyman Nelson Albano, taking the lead from a Vineland resident, is currently drafting a bill that would call for popular elections of Superior Court judges in New Jersey.

The origin of the coming draft legislation is rooted in a dispute over rent in Gloucester County, and a father miles away in Vineland who wouldn’t take no for an answer — even from a judge.

Tiffani M. Rosado along with her husband moved into Delseaview Apartments, in Lower Township, in August 2009, with a lease for $660 per month, including cold water and sewer.

However, one month later, in September of that year, the apartment complex issued a memo to its tenants advising them that rent would increase to $690, effective that upcoming January.

Rosado, along with her father, Vineland resident Joseph Butler, contended that this raise in rent was illegal.

She and her husband moved out of the apartment in February 2010, and in April brought a suit against the complex owner, Lower City Property Management, alleging, in addition to illegally raising her rent, negligence regarding an apparent bedbug infestation and wrongfully charging her for heating.

Gloucester County Superior Court Judge Anne McDonnell dismissed Rosado’s suit with prejudice, pointing out that the lease allowed the apartment to increase rent up to $915, pending approval from the Rural Housing Service.

The judge also stated that the lease called for residents to pay for their own heating bill, and also determined, based on pictures provided by Rosado, that the apartment was not in fact to home of bedbugs, but instead stink bugs – which “are not associated with poor sanitation,” wrote McDonnell in her decision.

A sticking point in the proceedings was the matter of the lease itself.

Rosado never signed her copy of the lease. However, Officials representing the apartment management presented a copy they stated she had signed.

Rosado denied signing anything.

When asked to verify the signature, the court, according to documents, noted that Rosado’s signature on that day was “very different” than the one on the lease presented by the apartment management.

The judge eventually ruled that the issue was irrelevant, stating, “she accepted the lease terms when she and her husband moved into the apartment.”

In April 2011, a state Appellate Court rejected her appeal.

It was then that Butler turned to Albano’s office, arguing that the judges involved in the case were not ruling based on law.

“We helped him do research – he was very up to date on the legal end of things,” said Albano on Wednesday. “He sent copies of everything he had to the New Jersey Supreme Court, and he got a letter back from the clerk saying he was probably correct on the legal side of things.”

Butler and Rosado are not applying to take their case to the state’s highest court. Instead, they are taking the legislative route.

“(Butler) believes that judges have too much of a conflict of interest in regard to party affiliation, and asked me to introduce legislation for them to be elected by the people rather than appointed,” said Albano. “I commend Mr. Butler. A regular person off of the street, if presented with the same situation, probably would have walked away and taken whatever the judge had given him.”

Albano stated he believes that while the judges in the case were interpreting the laws as they saw them, they may not have “acted the way the law was written.

The legislation he is drafting will be introduced next year.

“It would be difficult to get it passed,” Albano added. “But I understand where (Butler) is coming from and it makes sense to me.”

Speaking for himself, Butler stated the whole legal process had been a drain.

“Naturally, I was upset by the whole thing,” he said. “The law is (the apartment) has to give a non-blank version of the lease for the tenant to sign.